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1.5.5-Columbina
Brick!Club 1.5.5 Vague Flashes on the Horizon THIS IS SO LONG. I’M SORRY. That said though, oh boy am I glad I didn’t post this last night because wow, that was a lot of rambling about my teenage self and also some terrible photos of me trying to make a face that conveyed “What is that man, after all? I certainly have seen him somewhere. In any case, I am not his dupe.“ all at once, with my upper lip raised in company with my lower to my nose, but it seems I mostly just ended up squinting while doing a duckface. But it did mean that after spending hours on it last night, I had to spend hours fixing it up this morning. I have SO MUCH to say about this chapter, it’s a real problem, especially because I just cancelled pt so I could study for my exam that I’m going to fail tomorrow. Okay, before we drown in Javert feels, let’s go over this bit of Madeleine stuff. Someone else (I’M SORRY FOR BEING TOO LAZY TO CHECK, I NEED TO DO THIS AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE) already compared the nastiness directed at Madeleine to public opinion on Anne Hathaway and that really stuck out for me in the “in virtue of a sort of of law which all those who rise must submit to” bit, because that is exactly how celebrity works, even today. For someone who avoided social interaction so much, he does an excellent job as a mediator, which is interesting - is it from his reading or his innate intelligence or having come up through the ranks of society thus giving him an understanding of various viewpoints? This comes up for me again later in this chapter, but even though it’s occasionally frustrating, I do actually love this about Hugo’s unreliable narrator, where he’ll tell us things like “Madeleine avoided social interaction! Everyone in M. sur M. was happy!” and then show us Madeleine settling disputes or Fantine having a terrible life. … Possibly just because I feel like it gives us free reign to fanon away because hell if the narrator got this wrong, who knows what else he got wrong, you know? ANYWAY SO JAVERT. Fair warning, at fourteen or fifteen or whenever my first foray into Les Mis fandom was, all those years ago, I was there for Javert, and I was like Amis Schmamis. (How the times have changed.) There was nothing intellectual or objective about it, it was just a massive, embarrassing teenage crush, and not on any particular incarnation, but the character as a whole, and there are still passages that still smash those buttons in me but there are also plenty of bits that make me want to go back in time and go “Oh, honey” at myself. “man-fox in the presence of a man-lion” I love this because, lbh, my headcanon Valjean is basically human!Aslan. (Which is a thing I should do a whole post about sometime.) “His name was Javert, and he belonged to the police.” OKAY, I know this has been meta’d many times before and I have absolutely nothing original to add, but I still think this is one of the greatest introductions in THE WORLD. He belonged to the police, he was like an object, he gave himself up entirely to the police, dedicated all that he had and, ugh, I just love it okay. QUESTIONS! One, when Hugo talks about the dog in the litter of wolves, is it literally a dog, as in, not a wolf, but like, a cocker-spaniel, or can baby wolves be called dogs? Two, I know there was meta about Javert’s mum going around the other day but I saw it when I was checking tumblr in class so I couldn’t read it properly, but anyway, fortune-telling, actually illegal? I can’t see how, unless it’s on a witchcraft sort of charge. I mean, hey, if people are willing to pay, you should be allowed to sell them whatever you like. Later in the chapter there’s mention of her “ban”, so, was she in prison, or is this a thing where you could take your spouse to prison with you when you went to the galleys, or…? (One day I will do my own research on my questions, I swear, but not the day before an exam) Oh my God, this is getting so long, I’m sorry. Okay, the two classes that society unpardoningly excludes has also been meta’d much better than I can by many people before me, so I will keep it short and sweet. Later in the chapter we’re told that he was a spy as other men are priests, but I kind of wonder if nuns wouldn’t have been a better comparison, in terms of right, well, here is where I stand in society, here are my options, I don’t like those other options, right, I’m taking my vows. Plus my huge weakness for characters who use bad childhoods as motivation to show them all, although this is usually in the context of you know, drug addict mothers and the like. (JULIETTE BARNES, ILU YOU TERRIBLE HUMAN BEING.) It’s like Valjean’s desire for revenge on society because of the justice system, except Javert wants revenge on the criminal class because of his parents. (……..wait did I just describe Javert as Batman oh my God.) He only rendered those two very good sentiments almost bad. Let’s all join in a rousing chorus of NOT A VILLAIN, GUYS. Also, crimes as forms of rebellion, I can see it, I can agree with it, you know, at least with premeditated crime and whatnot. “He enveloped in a blind and profound faith every one who had a function in the state, from the prime minister to the rural policeman.” Except the mayor, because that guy was totes suss. “He was stoical, serious, austere; a melancholy dreamer, humble and haughty, like fanatics.” A MELANCHOLY DREAMER. Also, speaking of fanatics, has there ever been a modern au that cast Javert as like, a member of Westboro Baptist? Because that is a thing I would like to see. “And, withal, a life of privation, isolation, abnegation, chastity, with never a diversion.” WHY DO I LIKE THIS. Javert basically disappearing inside his clothes never fails to crack me up, sorry. “In his leisure moments, which were far from frequent, he read, although he hated books;“ This hits me so much harder than Valjean trying to better himself with his well-selected library, because, as mentioned, “I will not end up like my parents!” is a trope I am fond of and, I don’t know, something else, something about Javert grumpily forcing himself to read is just too precious for words. FUN FACT: Teenage me had a total snuff kink, I have no idea where it came from, so when I got to “he permitted himself a pinch of snuff” I distinctly remember throwing the book across the room because NOPE NOPE NOPE. Also I think I’d just been re-reading The Scarlet Pimpernel (ask me about pretending to save aristocrats from the guillotine / hills hoist when I was nine years old sometime) a little while before, because I also remember being like WHAT IS IT WITH THESE FANATIC FRENCH ANTAGONISTS WHO PROBABLY WEREN’T MEANT TO BE ATTRACTIVE BUT THEN SOMEONE WROTE THEM GREAT SONGS FOR MUSICAL ADAPTATIONS AND THEIR SNUFF OH MY GOD. (Actually tbh Chauvelin may have been the source of the snuff kink.) … Moving on. Oh my God, I really need to study okay not much left to go. “M. Madeleine had finally perceived the fact; but it seemed to be of no importance to him.” Did he not recognise Javert, was he just really good at playing his game, was he confident enough that his position would protect him if Javert accused him? I wish we weren’t playing the “Who could this Madeleine be?” game, so we actually get his reaction when Javert rocked into town. Oh, Javert, you and your muttering to yourself, also, if everyone overheard and knew why didn’t people talk to you about it? (Or did they and we just don’t hear about it?) Is it just because no one likes you? Did someone ever go to Madeleine and be like “Hey, that Inspector really seems to have it in for you, it’s weird?” Did someone ever say to Javert, “Who cares where he’s from, he’s fixed this town up real good, he’s a decent bloke, leave him be”? Non-character thoughts: - “pure and upright, like all instincts” UH HUGO? NO. Another thing about the narrator / Hugo, does he even believe half these mini-digressions, like the animal thing, which is certainly an interesting take on why we have animals that would seem to contradict Genesis since animals came first although maybe when God got around to people they were meant to be like Animals 2.0: Now Capable of Education but whatever, it’s still weird. I guess my question is, does Hugo believe this, or just his narrator? Although, he already made it clear he is the narrator, back when he made reference to his relative back with the Bishop. - Speaking of animals ahahahaha the person with the soul of an oyster, that poor bloke. Commentary Acescius oh man somebody understands me javert fangirling on friday y/y? I only knew the stage show until recently but it was all about the valjean and javert storyline for me (javert is still my favourite damn you russell crowe) like a heart full of shut up omg who the hell are these students just give me javert (how times have changed) also javert sometimes gives me sam vimes feels don’t get me started oh my god someone should write aslan!valjean and batman!javert do you understand how funny that would be 'Columbina (reply to Acesius) ''yes, to all of this, yes.